


The Things I Do For You

by sunshine_stereo



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Camp Nanowrimo, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Drama, F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo 2016, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-07-16 20:32:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7283659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshine_stereo/pseuds/sunshine_stereo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Harley ends up back at her doorstep, Ivy thinks over their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to all of the fantastic comments I've gotten both here and elsewhere, I've decided to continue it for NaNoWriMo! There should be about 50k words worth of fic in here soon enough.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, but I wish I did.

A soft  _ thump _ came from Ivy’s front door. She had been tending to some new plants she bought earlier that day and, although the sun had already set, was arranging them in her small, recklessly-made greenhouse. The unidentified sound echoing back from her front door broke her concentration. She stood up slowly and placed down a half-full clay pot of various small succulents at her feet.

“Hello?” She tentatively asked the humid air around her. There was no response. She tiptoed into her living room and glanced around looking for an object she could use to defend herself in case there was something threatening outside of her home. She spotted the worn broom she kept propped in the archway leading into her small, cracking kitchen. She walked over to the broom and grabbed it in a single lithe hand.

Holding the broom in front of her she leaned down next to her front door.

“Hello?” She asked again. Still no response. 

She grabbed the handle of the door and counted softly to herself.  _ One. _ She raised the broom, just in case there really was something outside. She just got out of Arkham again. If someone had already ratted her out there would be hell to pay.  _ Two. _ She let out a sigh and closed her eyes.  _ Three. _ She yanked the door open and looked outside. Nothing. She let down her guard and lowered her broom. 

“Red?” She was about to close the door again when soft voice arose from the ground in front of her bare feet. She looked down quickly. A small, blonde woman was shivering at her doorstep, barely holding herself up with her baseball bat. Her wet blonde hair was plastered to her face and neck.

“Oh, Harley.” Ivy’s face softened and she leaned down carefully, “What did he do to you this time?”

Harley just shook her head and Ivy helped her to her feet and into her small half-timbered bathroom.

“I just wish he treated you better, Harls.”

“I know, Red.”

Ivy let go of Harley so she could sit on the edge of the tub and grabbed a faded blue towel and some of Harley’s pajamas that she left behind once from a small closet outside of the bathroom door. It was Harley’s favorite towel. It had definitely seen it’s number of days, both good and bad. It’s frayed edges exposed this much. No matter how old it got, though, Harley demanded that Ivy keep it. And, of course, Ivy did.

“Here, love. Get warm.” Ivy helped Harley wrap herself in the towel and laid the clothes on the bathroom counter, “I’ll go grab you some hot chocolate.”

It had become tradition, albeit a very painful one, that every time Harley came over Ivy would help her settle in with some comfy clothes, hot chocolate, and a warm bed to sleep in until Harley felt ready to get up. Harley never wanted to talk about what had gone on which led her back to Ivy’s doorstep and, although Ivy always asked, she never pushed to hard. That wasn’t to say that she didn’t make her disdain for Harley’s other companion abundantly clear, but she always gave Harley a break after a while. She knew Harley was doing her best and that yelling at her about the Joker wouldn’t make anything better. It never had.

Ivy walked into her kitchen and cleared some old seed packets off of the counter. She grabbed a mug from above her fridge and wiped out dust from the inside. When she finished making Harley’s hot chocolate she took a sip and, deciding that it was good enough, carried it back to Harley.

Upon walking back into the bathroom, the first thing Ivy noticed was that Harley was dry, dressed, and completely passed out in the bathtub.

Ivy chuckled to herself, “Harls.” She placed the mug on the counter with a soft  _ click _ and looked into the mirror. 

She examines herself closely and, sighing, she turned to leave again when she heard a quiet scuffling behind her.

“Pammy?”

Ivy smiled to herself and looked over her shoulder, “Yes, sleepyhead?”

“Come back.”

Ivy leaned next to the tub and looked into Harley’s blue eyes, “What is it?”

Harley shuffled to the side and patted that space in the tub next to her.

“Harley, I’m not gonna get  _ in _ the tub with you. Let’s get you in bed.” Harley shook her head and pouted up at Ivy, patting the floor of the tub again. Ivy shook her head, but flipped the light switch off and climbed in anyway. Harley closed her eyes and leaned against Ivy, smirking to herself. Ivy kissed the top of Harley’s head, “The things I do for you.”

When Harley began to quietly snore, Ivy traced the veins on Harley’s arm with her finger, noticing the difference between Harley’s pale skin and Ivy’s own green skin. Ivy always questioned why Harley was so easy to accept their differences. At this point, Ivy was more plant than human and Harley was probably the only thing really keeping her from converting all the way. And yet somehow Ivy’s strange genetic alterations didn’t sway Harley in her love for Ivy. It didn’t phase her at all. Ivy knew Harley was extraordinarily accepting - look at how long she’s put up with the Joker for - and Ivy was never one to really doubt herself, but when it came to Harley she couldn’t help it. She knew that she was better for Harley than the monster she was currently residing with. For some reason, though, she felt like even she, herself, wasn’t even that great. Sure, she’d look out for Harley through anything and everything, but a life of crime isn’t an ideal life for anybody. There wasn’t much she or Harley could do about that now, though. They’d been in the game for too long.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harley and Ivy pick up again the morning after Harley shows up at her doorstep.

The next morning, Ivy woke up to the sound of unbridled laughter right beside her ear.. It startled her and she jolted up, but the combination of the fact she was laying in a bathtub and that there was a 140 pound weight on top of her resulted in her head colliding with porcelain. 

“Oh my god,” Harley, the previously unidentified weight, yelled between bouts of giggles, “Red, are you okay?”

Ivy groaned, but she was fine. Her head was definitely going to ache for the next few days, though, and she’d probably end up with a welt on the back of her head, “I’m alright, Harls. Just… forgot about our sleeping arrangement. What were you laughing at anyway?”

“Oh, I dunno, I just thought it was funny that I woke up in a tub really,” Harley laughed some more and Ivy couldn’t help, but smile a bit.

“It’s all your doing, Harley,” Ivy replied, but Harley didn’t care. She just laughed away until eventually she had gotten it all out and not even looking at Ivy’s tired, uncomfortable, slightly annoyed face didn’t even start her up again at which point she got out of the tub and stuck a hand out.

Ivy accepted Harley’s hand and climbed out of the tub. She kissed her girlfriend -  _ Are we girlfriends? Maybe not quite in the traditional sense, but close enough _ , she supposed - on the cheek and whispered, “I’ll run out and get some donuts if you can get some coffee started, if you’re feeling up for it.”

Harley nodded and smiled at Ivy as she stepped out of the bathroom and into the well-lit living room of the simple, yet homey establishment she chose to call her own. Her hideout was a home located on the outskirts of Gotham where all the people too poor to live in the city, but too rich to resort to more than petty crime lived. She bought the house under a pseudonym that she only remembered when it showed up on her bills and she paid for it with money that was either stolen or earned from selling something stolen, but it was home and she needed a place to call home. She’d argue that even if she didn’t want the house, it felt right to have it for when Harley was staying. Plus, nobody would know to look for them out there. Nobody ever had. It was as normal of a life as she would ever get.

The house’s convenient seclusion meant that going to the sad looking gas station around the corner to obtain a pack of donuts wasn’t going to be all that difficult. Ivy had been taking the occasional item from it between heists for months since she chose to stay there. It was nice to have nearby because there was only so much time after a heist that money could last until she needed to get more again and she was years from having any sort of normal, sustaining job.

Ivy grabbed a coat that hung from the back of a chair by the front door and slipped it on making sure the pockets were empty before calling out to Harley again, “I’ll be back soon. If you aren’t wiping chocolate from your lips in fifteen minutes just wait a little longer.” She could hear Harley yell something from the kitchen before beginning to sing to herself and took at as the okay to head out.

The crisp Gotham air hit Ivy quickly and she bundled her coat tighter around herself. She’d lived in Gotham her whole life, but the chill was never something she could get used to. The cold wind felt as if it seeped through her skin into her bones and, though she’d be damned if she admitted it, it made her feel weak. Gotham was an awful place to grow plants with it’s gross city pollution and awful weather; it wasn’t much of a place to foster a plant-human hybrid either.

The sun was out, though, and that made it slightly more bearable despite it not affecting the temperature much. She pushed through the bitter walk to the gas station and walked inside. The heating situation in the gas station wasn’t much to be proud of, but it was better than outside and Ivy was grateful for the temporary shelter before she’d have to head back home. She walked down an aisle before heading to where she knew the bags of donuts would be. Sadly, the space that the donuts would usually be occupying wasn’t stocked yet.

“Excuse me, miss,” whispered a soft female voice from behind Ivy who stepped aside. A small, mousy looking woman passed by with a cardboard box. Ivy peered over her shoulder and looked into the box. Donuts. Now she just had to get them without the lady noticing. If it was a guy, she probably could have easily persuaded her way around the rules, but this was different. It wasn’t that she lacked confidence, but more that her track record with women wasn’t as impeccable as with men. She decided on another plan.

Ivy pushed her red hair behind her ears and stuffed her hands in her pocket, “Ma’am?”

The lady placed her box on the floor and turned to look at Ivy, “Yes?”

Ivy smiled politely and talked in a soothing voice, “I just went into the restroom and it seems like somebody, er, left a bit of a mess.” She hoped that it would be enough to get the lady to go and check it out. If Harley had been here, she was certain that Harley could ramble on about the fictional issue until she left to go investigate simply as a strategy to avoid Harley’s nagging voice. But Ivy was not Harley and Harley was at home with a fresh pot of coffee.

“I’m sorry, miss. I’ll check it out after I put these up.”

“Ma’am, I’ve been traveling for a while and this is just a pit stop. I’m on my way to Metropolis and I’m running out of time. Can you do it now?”

“I guess so. Are you sure you can’t wait?” Score.

“Positive.” The lady got up and walked across the store. As soon as she was out of view of Ivy, the store was down one bag of donuts and one green vixen.

Ivy booked it down the sidewalk back to her house. Once she was to the front door she pulled the bag of donuts from her coat and went to enter, but the door was locked. She reached into her pockets to find her keys, but they were nowhere to be discovered.

“Harley? Let me in!” No response.  _ Dammit _ , she thought,  _ It hasn’t even been a day and something’s already wrong. _ She walked to the back of the house, peering through windows to the living room, “Harley?” 

Nobody there. 

She picked up the pace and looped around to her bedroom window. Before she even made it up to the window, she could hear something smooth and jazzy pouring out of the house in Harley’s voice. She smiled. It was all fine.

She knocked on the window and a half-dressed Harley jumped into her view, “Ivy!”

Ivy chuckled and shook her head. Harley wasn’t really covered up save for some shorts and a sports bra, but at least it was clean and Ivy certainly wasn’t going to complain, “Harley! I have donuts, let me in!”

“Oh, sorry! I forgot!” The silly blonde ran out of the room and Ivy met her on the opposite side of her front door, “What’s the paaassword?”

“Just let me in, Harls. It’s freezing out here.”

“Jeez, no formalities with this one,” Harley opened the door and kissed Ivy on her shivering lips, “The password was ‘please’. Ya know, for future reference.”

Ivy smiled, “Alright, peanut. You got that coffee ready?” She held up the donuts and Harley nodded, happily.

“Sugar and/or milk?”

“Well, my fridge is busted so we have no milk, but I’m okay without either.” 

Harley made a face of feigned disgust. “Ew, gross. Get out of my kitchen,” she laughed and passed Ivy her mug, proceeding to dump spoonfuls of sugar into her own.

Ivy sighed and walked across to the couch where she sat and stroked the leaves of a small plant on an end table, “Come sit with me, Harls?”

Harley dashed over with her coffee, miraculously not spilling it, and propped it beside the plant before lying across the couch to lay her head on Ivy’s lap. Ivy played with the blonde hair splayed across her legs and kissed Harley’s forehead, “Want a blanket?”

Harley nodded and Ivy kicked at a blanket on the floor in front of her, pulling it closer. Harley leaned down and grabbed it. Once she was settled in she closed her eyes and Ivy continued playing with her hair. Ivy discovered that Harley’s hair was damp which meant she probably washed it while she was gone. It was comforting to think that Harley got ready in her house. She never expected to get anywhere near domestic in her criminal life, but Harley seems to continue to prove that anything is possible. Even super villains need a comfy morning with coffee and donuts every once and a while.

“Hey, Harls?”

“Hmm?”

“We left the donuts on the counter.”

“Oh. Uh, do you think we should-”

“Nah.”

“Me either, I’m comfy.”

The two girls sat together like that for quite a bit of time until they both had dozed off again. At least a couch was a softer place to rest than a bathtub.


	3. Chapter 3

Ivy woke up just a little past noon. The sun peeked through the blinds in her living room and it made her feel good inside. It was a much better experience to be feeling the sun from inside than by going outside and being surrounded by the cold. She looked down at Harley and smiled. She looked so beautiful when she slept, so at peace. She wondered if she slept this well when staying with the Joker. Ivy was certain that if she asked, Harley would say yes, but she knew that was probably a lie. How could anyone sleep soundly beside someone who could just get up and hurt you?

Ivy tucked a few strands of hair behind Harley’s ear and kissed her temple. She then scooped the cute clown up and carried her into the bedroom they shared. Ivy placed her gently on the bed and tucked her in, not satisfied until Harley looked like the epitome of comfort and relaxation. After, Ivy walked back to her kitchen and grabbed a donut from the bag she stole.

Her mind began to wander to Harley and how long she might stay and if things would be different now, but it felt too stressful. She could hope and wish and pray all she wanted, but everything would probably just play out as usual. Harley would stay for a few days until she felt completely better again, she'd reassure herself that things would be good again if she went back, and then Ivy would be alone, left to tend to her plants and worry about Harley’s well being some more.

She snatched a second donut from the bag for good measure and then put the bag away. She threw herself on the couch and sighed. Normally she would have been working on her plants by this point in the day, but she just couldn't take her mind off of Harley. What if she could convince the girl to stay with her longer? What if she could get her to move away? What would Ivy have to do? Harley wouldn't leave willingly. Not yet at least. Ivy had gotten close to having Harley realize that she didn't deserve the life she was living a couple times and she just had to believe that they would get back to that point and move past it. At some point, Harley would  _ have  _ to listen and understand. She wasn't stupid. Ivy believed that there was hope for Harley even if it all seemed dim and far off into the future. Harley could do it. Harley could get out and Ivy could pull her through.

Finally, Ivy stood up from the couch,  _ Pull yourself together, girl. Harley’s going to do whatever she wants. Don’t let it run you down.  _ She tied her red mane back into a ponytail and walked into a back room of the house. It was originally intended to be a dining room, but who has space for a dining room when you have plants to keep? Not everything can fit in a backyard. After a couple hours of tending to her ever-growing garden, when the sun went down and cicadas began to hum their tunes in extraordinary volume, she went back inside.

She expected Harley to be awake by this point and she most certainly was. She was in the living room with an iPod blasting some sort of baroque pop that Ivy had never heard before. Ivy wasn’t the biggest fan of electronics, despite having a tv that Harley could be found using many a morning to watch cartoons (she assumed it was an easy way for the girl to not have to worry about the stressors in her life for a bit and Ivy wasn’t about to tell her not to), because they use so many minerals and precious materials that in order to get them all it completely destroys ecosystems. It was just another reason to hate humanity, but Harley had somehow gotten herself and iPod and Ivy could almost always make an exception for the gorgeous clown. She hated humanity, but she loved Harley even when she wasn’t quite sure why she was so attached.

“Whatcha listening to, Harls?”

“Lana.”

Ivy raised an eyebrow, “Lana?” 

“Lana Del Rey, silly.  _ The Lana _ ,” Harley said rolling her eyes.

Ivy laughed, “Alright. Okay. I gotcha. Lana.”

“The one and only.” Harley stopped jumping and spinning around the living room and plopped onto the couch, peeking over the back to look at Ivy, “How’re the plants?”

Ivy chuckled, “They’re doing well, sunshine. How are you?”

“Eh, I’m hangin’ in there,” Harley shrugged. It made Ivy a little sad, but her gal pal seemed content for the most part and that was enough for now.

“You hungry?”

“Always,” Harley laughed and it made Ivy smile. 

“Do you want to go out somewhere?  Take on the city?  They’ll never know what hit them,” Ivy smirked.

Harley jumped up and sprinted back into their bedroom; Ivy followed behind her. Within minutes they were dressed to the nines and out the door.

“Should we steal a car?” Harley asked, locking hands with the soft, green one beside her. Harley’s presence was magnetic and it just felt natural to be connected to her.

“Probably.”

“Should we make a gas station pit stop, then? See if there’s anythin’ to grab?”

“That’s up to you, hun. Been there, done that today.”

“Then I’ll go and I’ll pick you up!”

“Pick me up?” Ivy chuckled.

“Yeah, like a proper date or somethin’. Ring the doorbell, shake hands with the ‘rents, ya know what I’m sayin’?”

“Alright, Harls, I got it. Go get a car. I’ll wait here.”

“Okie dokie!” Harley sprinted away down the sidewalk and Ivy sat down on her empty driveway, looking up at the sky. She had no clue where Harley was planning on taking them, but she hoped it all turn out well. Harley may seem all chipper on the outside, but Ivy knew that poor girl needed a break.

Life didn’t seem to want to give her one, though.


	4. Chapter 4

Ivy knew something was wrong before the sound of sirens even reached her ears. She wasn’t sure if it was the fact that Harley wasn’t back quite as soon as she expected or what, but as soon as the earth shook just the slightest bit Ivy was running down the street with no regard for cars or pedestrians. She was practically at the gas station before the ring of sirens reached her ears and the blue and red lights appeared over the horizon. When she got there and she noticed the illuminated bat symbol shining in the skies above her head, she shoved debris from her path with the passion and anger of a swarm of bees. An explosion had destroyed the gas station and Ivy had no question that it was Harley’s psychopathic clown lover’s doing. Otherwise, nobody would have cared about some practically out of town gas station getting roughed up a bit. Well… more than a bit. It was practically nonexistent now. She didn’t care when the police cars started to empty and she was asked repeatedly to please move out of the way; she continued on into the debris instead.

It was a terrifying sight. She’d never seen a gas station flipped inside out before and she hoped to never see it again. She also hoped to never see that damned clown again. How could Harley say she loved him or the he loved her back? Surely she could see that it wasn’t right, that something was off. How did it get to this? How did she let it get to this?

_ Damn, Harley, where are you?  _ Ivy peered over all the ash and cement in front of her and fell to her knees. That’s when she heard it. Laughter. She turned quickly, expecting the clown himself, but seeing the police officers instead. They were all bent at the waist and cackling as if they’d heard the funniest joke in the entire world.  _ Laughing gas _ , she realized. Of course, she was immune and she was glad. She’d rather have any other death than that caused by the Joker and his outrageous science experiments. 

Suddenly, beneath the laughter, quite literally, Ivy heard coughing and ran over. “Harley? Harley!” she shouted, “Is that you?” 

Half of the lithe blonde’s face peeked out from under the debris. Her eyes were closed and she was coughing violently, gravity kept pulling ash down into the crevice and onto her face and no matter how much she coughed, she couldn’t get it all away. Ivy shoved the dying police officers to the ground so they could die out of her way and lifted the block of cement covering Harley. Harley lifted an arm to attempt to help, but then let out a yelp and held it back down by her side. 

Ivy moved the cement out of the way, “Just stay still, Harls. I’m getting you out of here.”

She pulled Harley out and into her arms bridal style. The final laughs died out and Ivy looked around to make sure the coast was clear. She placed Harley gently on the sidewalk away from the gas station and kissed her forehead, “Hold on.” She took off her coat and draped it over Harley, scooping her back up into her arms and heading back home.

Once inside, she went straight to their bedroom and set her gently on the bed. Ivy walked out of the room to grab a first aid kit from the bathroom. She looked in the mirror and sighed. It wasn’t that she was tired of helping Harley so much as she was disappointed in the whole situation. When she walked back into the bedroom, she heard Harley crying.

“I’m so sorry, Red,” Harley muttered between sobs, “I didn’t want this to happen. It wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“Honey, don’t do that,” Ivy commanded and helped Harley to get her shirt off so she could check her ribs, but then she softened and looked at Harley in the eyes, “I didn’t want this to happen either, sunshine. You deserve better.”

Ivy helped Harley lay back down on the bed and Harley looked out the window, silent. Ivy bandaged Harley up appropriately, happy to see that nothing appeared broken. Harley did seem pretty bruised up, though. Ivy knew that they wouldn’t be taking on the city like they had planned any time soon. She picked the first aid kit back up and organized it. She walked towards the door to put it back away again when Harley whispered, “Red, come back.”

“Harley, I’m just going to put this away, alright? I’m here.”

Harley sniffled and nodded, turning to face the window again. Rain had begun to fall since they had gotten back inside and it was clear a storm was picking up. The sound of the wind and rain on the roof outside drowned out Harley’s thoughts and she closed her eyes. Soon enough she felt the bed next to her slope down and a hand go through her hair.

“I wish he didn’t do this to you, Harls.”

Harley just nodded. She never wanted to talk about what went on between her and her puddin’, but she felt even more empty now than before. He had sought her out and attacked her. Normally he just disregarded her until she felt bad and went back home. Something must have happened. At first she felt worried, but then she felt guilty that she didn’t want to worry about him. She didn’t want to worry about anything anymore.

Eventually she fell into a deep sleep. It eased the pain and, at first, she would have thought she would be thankful for sleep, but it got dark fast. Her brain lit up with images of white walls. She just stared at them. Why the white walls? Her brain began to fill in the gaps.

She looked down and a desk was in front of her. When she looked up again she saw him, her Puddin’. But he wasn’t hers yet. This was just the Joker and, at this point, she recognized, she was just Harleen Quinzel.

“Hello, Doc,” the Joker’s pale face looked up at her. He was smiling, but it wasn’t the deadly smile she had grown accustomed to over the years. It appeared actually kind. 

She imagined that originally she had found even this side of him to be threatening. This seemed mundane now, though, and that was it’s own kind of scary.

“Doctor Harleen Quinzel, thank you very much.”

“Ooh, first  _ and _ last name? Are we on that basis already?”

“We can keep it to just Doctor Quinzel, if you like,” she had blushed, flustered. She hated this: looking back, having to relive all of these moments. Two hours prior, if you had asked, she would have said that she loved the Joker - of course she loved the Joker, she always would - but now things were different. Now he had gone out of his way to kill her and then leave immediately after. No witty monologue, no fictional anecdote to gain empathy before he killed her. Just straight to the punchline, so very unlike the Joker.

“Doctor Haaaarleen Quinzel… what does that remind me of?” 

Why didn’t he stay? Why didn’t he at least say something to her? Anything? He acted like she was just a pest that he wanted to finally dispose of. Who knows, maybe she was.

The scene shifted and she was in her old apartment. A pile of dirty work clothes were stacked beside her bed and that was the only organized thing in her room. Everything was ransacked. Her lamps were broken on the floor, a flower vase that the Joker had snuck into her office one day after work was shattered and had created a puddle of water, petals, and glass, and her personal desk was completely emptied out onto the floor in front of it.

She remembered this. She remembered what happened next, but she couldn’t help herself. She walked up to the desk and looked inside the top drawer. There was a key and a note. She picked up the key and put it in her pocket, but she didn’t even look at the note. She knew the next step. After all, she’d been through this before.

She turned around and a gigantic steel door was in front of her. Her hands shook as she lifted the key. She leaned towards the door for a second, resting her ear on it and trying to listen through the metal. She could hear him, faintly, from inside his cell. He was singing some unintelligible tune, something more like scatting than anything else, but it was lovely to listen to. It filled her with joy and, for a moment, she felt at peace with the world. It was a voice that she felt comfortable with. It hit her like a bus that she shouldn’t feel that way. That she just couldn’t feel that way anymore. Her body tensed again and she took a deep breath to relax, trying to calm herself before unlocking the door and pulling it open just barely. His eyes were on her immediately.

“Harley?”

She pulled the door open the rest of the way in walked inside. “Hi, Mr. J,” she whispered nervously.

The Joker stood and walked up to her, cupping her face with his hand and looking her in the eyes. They stood looking at each other like that for a minute before a smile broke onto the Joker’s face. He threw his head back and cackled triumphantly, louder than he ever did in his sessions with her. She could see it now. This was the moment she snapped. This was the moment he knew that she had snapped. She was his and the idea that he would ever be hers was a myth she had put her heart and soul into from this day on.

The scene shifted again, but they were in the same position. He was looking at her with a happy curiousity, shocked yet proud. It was right after her first kill. It was just a homeless man, of all things. He was tired and weak and it wasn’t anything that Harley had taken pride in other than the fact that she had surprised her Puddin’. They had been looking for a place to stay. The Joker had to find a new hideout as the last time he had one, Batman had tracked him down. They found an abandoned warehouse and, upon entering, immediately realized that it was being lived in. It smelled of death and human waste. They found the man within minutes and Harley had whipped out a gun the Joker had handed her before they escaped Arkham. She didn’t even realize what she had done until he was on the floor bleeding, his eyes staring, unfocused, into the open air. Right after, the Joker had taken Harley into his arms and just looked at her with astonishment. Harley didn’t feel bad at the time, and even watching it unfold over again, she still didn’t. She was like a child, malleable and open to learning. She was a young girl who had been admired for something for the first time and now didn’t want to feel any different.

She finally understood how it happened, how she unfolded and became Harley Quinn. The Joker looked at her in a way that she recognized as love, a love she had never come across before, and she was willing to do anything to bring that feeling back again. Over and over. If that meant killing people to do it and dealing with the unjustified abuse that occurred between his softer moments, she was up for it. She always believed that his softer moments were worth it, that they showed the way he really felt on the inside, that in them she could see the man he truly was. Sometimes she even believed she could get a glimpse at who he was before the Joker. Until now, that was.

She didn’t know she was crying. She hadn’t opened her eyes and her body felt numb. She could still see the Joker’s smile behind her eyelids, but she felt much softer arms around her than his. She opened her eyes.

“Ivy?”

“Yes, honey, what’s wrong?”

“Just don’t let me go.”

Ivy wiped the tears from underneath Harley’s big blue eyes and gently pulled her closer to her chest, “I wouldn’t dream of it.”


End file.
